Soviet Kosmos 482 Spacecraft Collides with Unidentified Location on Earth

A Soviet spacecraft, launched in 1972 as part of a failed mission to Venus, is believed to have crashed back onto Earth early Saturday morning. The European Space Agency (ESA), which was monitoring the spacecraft’s uncontrolled descent, reported that it was last detected by radar over Germany. By the time the crash was anticipated, radar could no longer track Kosmos 482, leading officials to conclude that reentry had likely already occurred.

Fortunately, there have been no reports of injuries or damage resulting from the spacecraft’s descent. Kosmos 482 was part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program, designed to explore the planet Venus. While ten missions of this program successfully landed on the planet, the rocket carrying Kosmos 482 malfunctioned, leaving its upper stage and descent craft in orbit around Earth.

For fifty-three years, the approximately three-foot wide, 1,069-pound spacecraft circled the Earth in a progressively decaying elliptical orbit until it came close enough to enter the atmosphere. The ESA has noted that it’s not uncommon for space debris to fall back to Earth; in fact, over 2,400 human-made objects fell from space in 2022 alone. Unlike most space debris that typically burns up during reentry, Kosmos 482 was engineered to endure harsh conditions, having been designed for Venus’ dense atmosphere where temperatures can soar up to 867 degrees Fahrenheit (464 degrees Celsius).

This durability suggested that it could survive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, which is comparatively less intense. ESA officials have emphasized that the risk of injury from satellite reentry is extremely low. The annual chance of an individual being injured by space debris is less than 1 in 100 billion, making it far more likely for an individual to be struck by lightning.

Prior to the crash, the U.S. Space Force estimated that the spacecraft would re-enter the atmosphere at 1:52 a.m. ET on Saturday morning, specifically over the Pacific Ocean, west of Guam.